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Touched by the kind of dynamism that also marked City Of God, Tsotsi brings a fresh energy to familiar themes of crime and redemption. Based on a novel by Athol Fugard, it offers an unflinching portrait of post-apartheid South Africa; the lawless shanty towns and lives bereft of hope. It also manages to look beyond the despair to tell an arresting human story of one young man’s journey towards the possibility of change. Critical support should help position this as an essential festival item with real commercial potential in the hands of a committed distributor: it enjoys a North American premiere at Toronto after screening at Edinburgh at the weekend. The third feature from writer-director Gavin Hood feels as fresh as new paint in its determination to reflect the realities of shanty town communities rife with casual crime and lethal violence. There is a sense here of a South Africa that has become as wild as the old west. Contemporary reportage is allied to classical storytelling with a central figure who could have strayed straight from the mean streets of a punchy, post-War film noir. It is easy to imagine Sam Fuller in the director’s chair or Richard Widmark as the hoodlum finally able to embrace his better instincts. Neither his feature debut A Reasonable Man (1999) nor In Desert And Wilderness (2001) established Gavin Hood as an international name but Tsotsi should remedy that; crisply edited, compact and compelling, it is filled with bravura moments. “ Tsotsi” means thug and it is also the nickname that has been applied to David (Chweneyagae). Orphaned by AIDS, he has been forced to raise himself, honing his survival instincts and growing indifferent to the hurt he causes, the anger he carries or the lives he damages. The aftermath of one crime finds him beating one of his friends to the point of death. Later, he steals a car and when the owner refuses to relinquish the vehicle he shoots her. It is only after driving away that he realises there is a young baby in the back seat. He doesn’t kill the child or abandon it. Instead, he bundles it up in a brown carrier bag and takes it home. Having the responsibility for another human reawakens his long dormant compassion for others and leads to the realisation that he cannot continue to live his life like this. Tsotsi’s success lies in the way that it manages to change our perspective on the central protagonist. At first, David seems like the worst nightmare of a law-abiding citizen. Wide-eyed and ruthless, charismatic actor Presley Chweneyegae seems to seethe with contempt for the world. He is a walking powderkeg who sees no reason to abide by society’s rules because it has done nothing for him. When he starts to acknowledge the humanity of others, we connect to the struggle within him until the film’s finale becomes emotional, edge of the seat high drama. Filmed entirely on location, Hood avoids the obvious approach of gritty, guerrilla-style film-making to create a film with a polished cinematic sweep and a sense of eerie beauty lurking in the most unexpected places. |
